The mysterious target of satellite broadcaster Dish Network’s near US$400m strategic debt investment is being tipped to be Clearwire, the US WiMAX wholesaler.
Dish revealed in a 10Q yesterday that a significant proportion of its strategic investments…
The mysterious target of satellite broadcaster Dish Network’s near US$400m strategic debt investment is being tipped to be Clearwire, the US WiMAX wholesaler.
Dish revealed in a 10Q yesterday that a significant proportion of its strategic investments were concentrated in the debt securities of a single issuer.
“The carrying value of the securities of that single issuer as of June 30, 2012 and December 31, 2011 was US$396m and US$16m, respectively,” it stated in the SEC filing.
Dish CEO Charlie Ergen would not disclose the identity of this issuer in an investors call that followed the 10Q release. However, the SEC filing hinted that the unnamed issuer “has indicated that it will need substantial additional capital to meet its business and financial obligations beyond the next 12 months”.
This, according to Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche, points to the target being Clearwire, which revealed in its Q2 results on 26 July that it had enough funding to last “at least 12 months”.
Clearwire was also unable to comment on the speculation.
In a research note, Fritzsche explained how Dish would be drawn to the value of Clearwire’s higher band spectrum, as demand for capacity continues to surge in the US. The move would also follow US telecoms giant AT&T’s US$600m acquisition last week of NextWave Wireless, the broadband solutions firm that holds spectrum in the Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) and Wireless Communication Services (WCS) bands.
Fritzsche added that, with AT&T’s NextWave deal, “we believe a strong message was sent to the marketplace that spectrum at 2.3GHz and above is valuable and has to be part of the conversation. We continue to expect an ecosystem to build and develop here.”
